Its 4:55am on a 12 hour train journey from bangkok to chiang mai and i can't sleep so i'll write up the events of the first few days.

January 17th saw the first meeting of all 3 of us.Bit strange but only in the sense the everyones parents were so similar.My mum had to be the first to crack the old 'can i get a picture of you all' but luckily to my satisfaction she wasn''t the first to suggest swapping phone numbers. Especially after being frowned upon back at home for suggesting it.

Problem with check in and some of us were on some flights but not others but this worked in our favour as we were given the seats on the emergency exit.This meant extra leg room which definitely came in handy,We headed straight for the bar and soon saw off 3 pints which kept the chatting going but in a way that saw us very late for our flight.With a few funny looks of 'are we trusting them with our emergency exit doors' we sat down and waited for take off.There was free drinks of the plane which included alcohol and we used it to try some new stuff. Being a quantas flight a lot of it was Australian soi asked what they recommended.....turned out to be an ale, which actually tasted pretty good.

Good old Tim, the flight attendant, sorted us out through the flight but i'm sure they purposely avoided us on the next free drink round but i'm not sure why...

The overnight flight wasn't great for me.I struggle to sleep sitting up and on transport (probably why i'm say here typing this up at 5am with everyone asleep around me).We got to Bangkok about 4:45pm the following day as they are 7 hours in front.We were all very tired and the taxi ride was just a staring in to space job with no conversation at all.Though we did laugh at how the radio was playing all English songs like atomic kitten and kaeha with the radio presenter being English!?!We headed straight to the hostel where we checked in around 5:45pm and put our bags down and went in search of a bar.

After a wonder round we settled for one just of khao san road that was pretty quiet but very cheap.Looking through the menu we didn't wana gamble too much so I opted for the burger and chips and a large beer.The beer was 70 baht (£1.20) for a big bottle and the meal was 80baht (£1.60).We had another beer before heading to khao san road to see what all the fuss was about.

I can't really remember too much after this so it's probably a bit sketchy :) but...we wondered down khao san road and ventured into our own little bar crawl.They have 7/11's over here which are a bit like tesco express and these were selling large beer's for about 25-35 baht ( around 50-60p) we grabbed a couple and headed down the road.

Just like being on holiday you are hassled to buy stuff.Suits, ping pong (more on later), tuktuk, taxi, hotels....the lot! But after a few more bar's and a lot more beer we thought it would be a good idea to head to the old ping pong show.To anyone that doesn't know, a live sex show!We were all very drunk at this stage but after a very fun crazy tuktuk rides we found ourselves at this sex show.Now don't get me wrong the Thai girls are VERY talented lol but it's nothing you can't see in Amsterdam.I loved how the mens toilet was also the staff room.Having a wee and saying hello to the hooker was quite a sight. We got chatting to some aussie lads with their girlfriend and an American bloke with his misses.They were all good fun and there was some banter flying about but we all had a laugh.After la sex show we headed back to khao san road which is pretty much where the action is and after drunken chatting to some Belgian guys about the world cup just outside the police station we nearly got arrested so we swiftly moved on.We must of chatted to alot of street sellers as the following day they all knew us.....hmmm!

After we was recommended "the club" which opened up into a huge club.We all ordered buckets of beer which strangely came with ice???We walked straight to the dance floor and up on the platform and with some girls.

About 3am (8 hours of drinking) we went back to the hostel and managed a game of pool with Robbie.I don't know how because all i can remember is seeing a few blurry balls but i won!

I slept like a log, and we woke up about 1pm and headed out for brunch.

The room was already looking a mess but we gathered our stuff and headed out.We took a tuktuk ride to the MBK which is a giant shopping mall and had a wonder round.Its a lot different to our shopping cnetre's back at home in the sense that the shops are very small so you end up with thousands of shops in one area and no huge high street chains.Everything seemed quite cheap and western and this was for a 7 floor giant shopping mall.

We were pretty tired after wondering around the shopping mall and you could tell we were all falling asleep so to solve that we headed for a bar.After a few beers we were back in full swing, straight for a 7/11 crawl.Drunk again we went to the travellers bar which funnily enough had no travellers in, but still, it was pretty funny.We got chatting to some English and a French guy that was saying how not all thai girls are hookers.Some are just out for the good time and if they mention paying then you kick them out.All the talk about lady boys is myth, i'm pretty sure.I don't think i've seen one...well maybe the odd one you would question but nothing certain.A place called "spicy" seemed to be wear everyone was heading so we hoped on another tuktuk straight for spicy's.Turns out when we got there it was closed.Whether this was a scam as we were later told some guys do this just to get your tuktuk fare ride after (and take you to a w**** house) we don't know.Some thai girls suggested thats what they did but after trying to get in 'the club' they were all saying closed.Even 7/11 weren't serving alcohol and it was only 2:30am J

It seems Bangkok never sleeps.But we were always sleeping, alot!Today (20th Jan) we got up at 3:00pm.Thanks to Robbie i was awake at 7am and after spending 2 hours trying to work the wifi i tucked my head back down.When we finally made it up everyone was too tired for any decision making and it seemed we wasted a day.We wondered around contemplating what to do.Robbie doesn't have a Vietnam visa so we were sure to trust a company and have it sent off.He decided not to get 1 in the end and we were sick of the dirty stuffy Bangkok and thought it maybe a god idea to head up to Chiang Mai.We checked timetables and prices and gambled, packing up and heading straight for the train station.We took a taxi which they aren't happy about when you are demanding the meter to be put on!We managed to get half way in the first taxi which if my translation is correct he had broken down or hit a moped....i don't know!So we hoped in another taxi and argued the fair for the first 1 as there is a 35 baht charge as soon as you get in and we would have paid this twice.Eveyone in Bangkok seems to be in it for themselves and scam you all the time.Yes it's only 50/60p between 3 of us but the principal of being made a fool of doesn't go down well.

At the train station we were helped by an information girl and it turned out that all the sleeper trains were full.We had a choice of either heading back to the green house (for an already paid for night) or to catch the 2nd class train that was just a seat.We were all tired and again decision making was very scarce but we managed to gamble and go for the 12 hour seat on a 2nd class thai train.We grabbed a KFC, 4 large beers and 2 bacardi breezers each and headed for the train.

The train is a story in itself.We could of gone third class which was pretty much a wooden bench but we were in a genuine fake leather air con carriage.It isn't that bad.We paid £12 to travel 500 miles which included a meal, a drink and a blanket.Me and Dan got pretty drunk on the way, which was the plan to get us through the next 12 hours, and it definitely worked!I needed to break the seal so i headed for the toilet.Haha, well.If i get a picture of it you will love it.Its horrible.For a start you need a very very good aim whilst moving and if like me you are kind and wipe the seat then there is a hose pipe to shoot it down.Later on i realised there was a peddle for a flush, but it was all good.The window in there was half open so i opened it up fully and after checking there was no trains heading for me, stuck my head out.The dusty air blowing in my face was pretty cool but after the 3rd toilet trip we found the door open at the end of the carriage.Obviously some drunk lads aren't going to miss out on an opportunity like that so of course we held on for dear life and stuck our body out the train.

Several toilet trips later i went for the left toilet.This was just like a service station in france, basically a hole in the floor.We thought it might be a good idea to have a wee from inside the toilet but straight out the window J i hope their window wasn't open is all i can say.

It's now 5:53am and the sun is rising up over the mountains in northern Thailand.

Love yaz x